Ali Javan recalls starting work on a gas laser

Interviewed by Jeff Hecht, 1985

Click here to listen to the interview.

Javan:

After I did come up with the idea and really convinced myself that helium-and-neon was the best medium to proceed, there were a lot of non-believers. A lot of non-believers. And the non-believers were telling me that gaseous discharges were really too chaotic. You could not have anything, you know, that you could control. And there were a lot of uncertainties.